Suspected U.S. Drone Strike in Pakistan KJills Two

By Anwar Shakir and Kathleen Hunter -
Apr 29, 2012

A missile strike, suspected to have
originated from a U.S. drone, killed two people and injured
three in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region, said
Kifayatullah Durrani, a spokesman for the administration of
Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

The strike comes two days after talks aimed at breaking a
five-month diplomatic dispute between the U.S. and Pakistan
broke down in Islamabad, according to the New York Times.

The U.S. relationship with Pakistan has been frayed by
tensions including U.S. drone missions over the country, which
American officials say is vital to helping Afghan security
forces gain control of the country so U.S. and allied troops can
withdraw by the end of 2014.

Other irritants include the U.S. decision to kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad a year ago without first informing the
Pakistani government and the killing of two Pakistanis by a
Central Intelligence Agency contractor.

There is mutual mistrust between the U.S. and Pakistan,
Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the U.S., said
in an interview with CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” broadcast
today.

Pakistanis say that the U.S. “has repeatedly betrayed
Pakistan, has left it in the lurch. It came to fight the Soviets
in Afghanistan and then left in a hurry, without caring about
the fallout for Pakistan. It promised assistance and withdrew
it,” Haqqani said.

Nuclear Weapons

Americans say that “Pakistanis cannot be trusted and that
Pakistan pursues a nuclear weapons program, which they promised
at one time that they wouldn’t do, that Pakistan is involved in
supporting militants and terrorists,” Haqqani said.

The security relationship has been virtually frozen since
Nov. 26, when U.S. helicopters from Afghanistan fired on border
posts, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers. In protest, Pakistan
closed its border to the resupply of U.S. forces in Afghanistan
and suspended much military and intelligence cooperation.

Pakistan told the Obama administration in March that it no
longer will permit U.S. drones to use its airspace to attack
militants and collect intelligence on al-Qaeda and other groups,
according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity
because the drone program is classified.

The drone program, which President Barack Obama
acknowledged publicly for the first time in January, has been
part of U.S. counter-terrorism strategy in Pakistan since 2004,
officials and counter-terrorism experts say.

The Obama administration authorized 53 drone attacks in
2009 and 117 in 2010, compared with 35 in 2008 under former
President George W. Bush, according to Bill Roggio, a U.S.
military analyst whose website, the Long War Journal, maintains
a database of the campaign.